Former champion Charles Oliveira is of the opinion that Ilia Topuria must prove himself at lightweight before making too much noise in his new division.
Topuria surrendered his UFC 145-pound title in recent weeks as part of a move up to the lightweight fold in advance of a presumed run at the world title after dominant spell at featherweight which saw him score knockout wins over divisional greats Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
The Georgian-Spaniard has made no secret of his ambition to challenge Islam Makhachev for the organisation’s 155-pound belt and seems to have determined that a bout with Oliveira represents his clearest path to a title shot, saying in a post to social media that he is “the father of the entire division” and “in charge” as he called on the Brazilian submission expert to “stay quiet.”
And in his response, Oliveira said that his body of work at 155-pounds speaks for itself.
“It’s been 15 years in the UFC, respecting everybody,” he told Ariel Helwani via translation, as noted by MMA Junkie. “I’ve said it already. My story is written there. Everybody can see it. He’s coming from a champion of featherweight division, and now trying to come up and show this.
“But I have firepower in my wrists, and I’m really focused on the belt itself. It’s not about who it’s going to be on my way, but getting the belt. He’s just trying to dig out a fight. He’s saying a lot of crap. I really respect his fights, the way he’s come up and everything, but he’s being very disrespectful now and is saying a lot of things that he shouldn’t.”
Regardless though, Oliveira says that it is the UFC that determines who will be the next to fight for a title and if they opt for Topuria, so be it.
“Bottom line is Makhachev is the guy that has to be beat,” he said “If he is the next one to fight him, then so be it. I’m just an employee here. If he’s given the chance and not me, I’m going to keep fighting, keep preparing and keep waiting for my turn to come around. It is what it is. I don’t think much about it.
“I’ll fight whoever comes to fight me and that’s about it.”
